He booked himself to win the belt and in doing so, forced many out of his territory out of frustration, ultimately causing the AWA's downfall; see Hogan, Hulk. AWA was based in Minneapolis. You may notice we're on the other side of the country, Los Angeles, California.
I have literally lost count of the number of times I have explained why this is stupid and factually inaccurate. How inaccurate; let me count the ways.
1) Hulk Hogan had the entire AWA built around him as the number one guy before he left. You are buying into a myth that has no factual grounding.
2) The mass exodus from AWA happened the best part of a decade after Verne Gagne retired from in ring competition. So where the fuck this 'he forced people out of the promotion by booking himself to the top' nonsense is coming from I don't know.
3) Gagne was one of the most over talents in the world well
before he founded the AWA. He was heavyweight champion all over the west and central US pre AWA - as well as being selected as an alternative (due to questionable amateur status) for the US Olympic wrestling team. He was recognized NWA heavyweight champion, which at the time put him on near equal footing to Lou Thesz. In fact at the time much of the media element viewed him as the real world champion.
4) Gagne mattered. JBL didn't.
I seriously doubt I really have to explain this to people, but Verne Gagne is up there in the top ten most influential people in the history of professional wrestling both for his actions in and out of the ring.
From an promotion perspective he managed the second most successful US promotion of all time. He trained, created or got over a near majority of the stars who went on the dominate the industry for the next twenty years. If you trace back the non-Canadian, legends of the North American wrestling scene almost everyone leads sooner or later back to Verne Gagne or the AWA. Flair, Backlund, Shiek, The Andersons, Henning, Slaughter, Snuka and many, many more.
What's less well reported is the effect that Verne Gagne had on the in ring product we have today. Verne Gagne's AWA is the primary reason that what people now laughably refer to as technical wrestling survived past the 1980's. The AWA remained relevant keeping that style alive, and the WWF's purge of the AWA roster is the reason that today's product looks like it does, and non like it did in 1975.
Of course, none of these out of ring actions are reasons why you should vote Verne Gagne over JBL, I just like to spread a little bit of knowledge in the early rounds before people become too stupid to read.
Why you should vote for Verne Gagne is very simple. He was a better wrestler in every way.
He won more often and more regularly against higher level competition.
He was more over in comparison to his peers - JBL managed to be a borderline top guy for about two years - Gagne managed to be more over and more relevant for well over a decade.
Gagne was one of wrestling's first ever national television stars and was a top draw in two separate decades in spite of working in a part of the world where nobody fuckin' lived. He was probably the second top earner in the industry during the 50's - on account of being the second best man in the world at drawing money.
Gagne has better amateur, legitimate and kayfabe credentials as a wrestler. He won more often and he won more frequently. He drew more. He inspired more. He won more titles and held them for longer. He also changed the industry.
JBL's one accomplishment of note was making me briefly forget how bad at commentating Taz was.
This isn't a question for anyone with a functioning brain. Please don't let fanboys spoil the tournament for everyone.